The present invention relates to digital geoinformatics. More specifically, the present invention relates to the acquiring, cataloguing, and analyzing of digital core samples taken of subterranean formations and their applications in the optimization of oilfield techniques.
Digital imaging techniques allow for the creation, process, and storage of digital data that can be analyzed for a number of purposes. While traditional imaging is typically confined to 2-D optical systems (e.g., cameras, optical microscopes, etc.) that operate within the visible light range, digital imaging can also take advantage of other imaging systems such as, but not limited to, computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), confocal microscopes, and the like.
In particular, computer tomography is widely used as a tool in radiology to detect abnormalities such as infarctions, tumors, calcifications, bone traumas, etc. This is often achieved by generating a three-dimensional image of the inside of a patient from a large series of two-dimensional x-ray images taken. Although these images are usually generated in an axial or transverse plane, modern imaging techniques allow the imaging data to be reformatted in various planes or even as volumetric (i.e., three-dimensional) representations of structures.
Confocal microscopes may digitally construct three-dimensional images by using point illumination and spatial pinhole to eliminate out-of-focus light. Confocal microscopes often have the ability to obtain a series of 2-D images through the use of two-dimensional scanning and a moveable stage that can change the focal plane within a specimen. The series of two-dimensional images can be stacked on top of each other to construct a three-dimensional image.
Digital imaging systems such as computer tomography and confocal microscope also have the potential to be used as tools for visualizing and characterizing subterranean formations. For example, a rock fragmentation analysis system that includes a camera and image processing system may be used to analyze blasted rocks to assess the quality of blasts. A laser scanning confocal microscope system may be used to characterize three-dimensional samples of rocks for determining the flow properties of the samples. Despite some of these efforts, digital imaging systems and techniques have not been widely applied or used to analyze subterranean formations.